If I count the ways I love you I would never sleep For I would be counting forever A love so pure, so deep
If I count the ways I love you They would outnumber the stars That shine in the sky above us From Mercury to Mars
If I count the ways I love you It’d take the rest of my days Baby boy, you are everything This love, it never strays
If I count the ways I love you I could never stop to rest For the ways, they are endless Your mama loves you best
As the waves came in, it came over me That although it wasn’t the first time It was the first time in awhile That I had a moment to feel, to breathe The passage of time deep within my bones The nostalgia of the past The distant sound of voices gone The laughter of an old joke A song, nearly forgotten Crisscrossing in my mind With the bittersweetness of the present Little feet pattering around Small cries in the dark That weren’t there before How I try to hold onto this moment Knowing it is fleeting and then it slips away Thinking of who am I Remembering the girl I used to be Wondering how I will transform If I am so lucky A tear threatens to escape I swallow hard to hold it back After all, this fleeting passage of time Is what makes it all worthwhile Knowing we will never be here again Gives the moment the sweet taste Of hope, fear, regret, desire, love This moment, like the waves Crashes and then Just as suddenly Fades away
Eyes, baby blue with flecks of grey Stare into mine with wonder You smile at every word I say It’s like I somehow cannot blunder
I know it won’t always be just like this So I try to capture each moment passing Try to hold onto this baby bliss My love for you keeps amassing
I never thought this day would arrive I had lost so much along the way Still in disbelief that one could survive That I’d be able to hold you today
I dream of the future, of what we’ll see I treasure the memories of yesterday Right now you’re the smallest you’ll ever be Knowing with me you won’t always stay
My love, my baby, my everything The dream I dreamt, through all the strife Your face, the sweetest, most beautiful thing I’ll love you every moment of my life
Every day seems the same Same music, same three windows Same basic routine But yet, each one has been a miracle Since you came into my life
I didn’t know how much I didn’t know I didn’t know how much I had never felt I didn’t know what was missing All that I had missed You made my dream come true
Your smile is the answer to my questions Your eyes, the key that unlocked my soul Your life, my mission Your heart, my treasure You, my everything
Earthquakes no longer feel so foreign to my body The stable ground, crumbling in an instant The aftershocks, ripping through my veins Have become the norm, an expectation Why would any of this be easy?
Every time the ship starts to right itself Another wave comes crashing overboard Submerging me once again Suffocating me once again When I had only learned how to breathe again When I had only learned how to live again Why is this happening again?
They say if it doesn’t kill it you It makes you smarter, tougher Stronger Well I’m fucking strong enough And I’ve waited long enough To get a win or at least a draw To see a glimpse of the life I’ve been fighting for To remember why I started fighting at all
Will the dawn ever break? Will the storm ever pass? Will the mountain become a hill? Will the present fade into the past? Will I be here still?
It came to me like snails come to the gardens; Ready to consume A thought I’d been afraid of for so long Threatening to burst out from within Tempting me to take what I thought was my life And flip it upside down Inside out Start it again Consumed by the daydream Of freedom from it all From the expectations drawn up for me Since I was a little girl From the picture I had in my head for so long And mostly, freedom from myself Consumed by the tantalizing thought Of freedom Am I brave enough to step off the ledge Not to fall but to fly Not to fly but to soar
Como un flor You brightened up the room Como una Estrella You burned out too soon
Como un lobo I missed you in the night Como la ley I could never get it right
Como el mensaje en la botella I could never reach you in time Como un poema I couldn’t find the rhyme
Como un flor I looked for you in spring Como un flor Como un flor
You don’t remember our first kiss But I will never forget The way my heart skipped The night my life began again
I couldn’t believe that someone like you Could ever be interested in me Sometimes still cannot believe How lucky I am that you’re here
15 years can feel like an eternity I can barely remember the time before Seems like you’ve always been beside me Holding me since the beginning of time
And sometimes 15 years feels like a minute They say time flies when you’re having fun When every day I wake up beside you Is another reason to laugh, to smile
For awhile we were so lucky To live in the good times rather than the bad Lately, though, the rain has been pouring Making it hard to see what comes next
They say that every storm runs out of rain And while this one seems to never end I’d rather be wet and beside you Than dry and all alone
Your love is my comfort, my safe haven My place to hide when the world is hard I am better because I have you My sunshine, my hope, my love
Keep the faith, you said Time and time again They all quoted it as their favorite I can still hear your voice Although it’s getting fainter And the people gathered wondered How did it all end like this Why does one day break with normality And the sun set in a heartbreak beyond What any of us thought could be It wasn’t your fault but do you see All of us that are left behind A wife, a daughter, so many friends A community that didn’t die with you But will surely never be whole again I don’t think I ever said thank you For the life you helped give to me I’m not unique in saying I am who I am because of you You gave me a chance and I took it And nothing has ever been the same You gave me a chance and I took it And look at who I am Keep the faith, you said And sometimes it was easy to do so The look is a child’s eye when she Finally learned something new But more often it was hard And today feels somehow harder But if I told you that now I know you would Say “Hadley, get a grip” It’s only life after all And though today we hurt With a hole that will never be full I’ll keep you with me, wherever I go Keep your voice inside my head Reminding me, imploring me To keep the faith
In memory of JC
